UN report: Libya faces serious security threat from foreign fighters, Russia's Wagner

euronews.com:

Libya faces a serious security threat from foreign fighters and private military companies, especially Russia's Wagner Group which has violated international law, a UN expert report said.

The experts also accused seven Libyan armed groups of systematically using unlawful detention to punish perceived opponents, ignoring international and domestic civil rights laws, including those prohibiting torture.

In particular, "migrants have been extremely vulnerable to human rights abuses and regularly subjected to acts of slavery, rape and torture," the panel said in the report to the UN Security Council obtained late Friday.

The oil-rich North African nation plunged into turmoil after a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 toppled dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was later killed. 

It then became divided between rival governments: one in the east, backed by military commander Khalifa Hifter, and an UN-supported administration in the capital of Tripoli. Each side is propped up by different militias and foreign powers.

In April 2019, Hifter and his forces, backed by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, launched an offensive to try and capture Tripoli. 

His campaign collapsed after Turkey stepped up its military support for the UN-supported government with hundreds of troops and thousands of Syrian mercenaries.

An October 2020 cease-fire deal led to an agreement on a transitional government in early February 2021 and elections were scheduled for the last 24 December aimed at unifying the country. 

But they were cancelled and the country now has rival governments with two Libyans claiming to be prime ministers.

The cease-fire agreement called for the speedy withdrawal of all foreign fighters and mercenaries but the panel said "there has been little